Big Dip: Rare Bird Alert

AUSTRALIA rare bird alert: February 8th 2019

Welcome to the sixth Australia Rare Bird Alert of 2019 (and the first for February)! A few of have noticed (got a dozen emails asking) what happened to this weeks RBA. Here it is, and concerning the rarities below, I think you'll see why I delayed it by a few hours. Alright, let's dive in.

Undoubtedly the biggest news of the week is the discovery of Australia's very first COLLARED PRATINCOLE at Herdsman Lake (Perth), Western Australia. The story of this finding is a good one. It was first identified as an Oriental Pratincole and was being regularly seen by local birders since January 25th. On February 6th, a detailed discussion commenced online (following the sharp eyes of I believe Mike Carter and a few others) on the possibility of this Oriental Pratincole actually being a Collared Pratincole. After a number of photographs were thrown up into the discussion, an ID was eventually clinched and Australia had its very first Collared Pratincole. The key points include a white trailing edge and the tail extending past the wing tips being the focussed ID points. The bird has continued to be seen by local and interstate twitchers (no reports so far from today - 8th of Feb) and will hopefully continue to seen over the weekend, where I expect hoards of interstate birders will fly over to see this once in a lifetime rarity to Australia. Collared Pratincole is usually found across Africa, into southern Europe and across east as far as Pakistan. Collared Pratincole becomes the 3rd First For Australia since the start of 2019. Arguably, this is the countries best ever rarity season. I will do a whole summer rarity summary in a few weeks.

In the next big vagrant news, a FAIRY PITTA was found in Broome yesterday (7th Feb) afternoon. It flew into a window at the Matso Broome Brewery where staff put it into a box, where it apparently recovered (jumping around/calling) and was later released. Today, the bird was relocated by a local birders at the Sobrane's Art Gallery exhibiting typical Pitta behaviour such as scratching among the leaf litter and only providing limited views. There are currently only two previous records of Fairy Pitta in Australia.

Collared Pratincole - image by Jason Abruso

Fairy Pitta - image by Bruce Greatwich

A CINNAMON BITTERN was photographed on Christmas Island on the 6th of February. The bird captured and taken to one of the wildlife rehab centre (no updates on its condition as of yet). The bird undernourished and found in a chicken coop in a very poor condition. Cinnamon Bittern was recorded relatively regularly between 2000-2012 with half a dozen reports, though has gone almost unreported since, taking over the Von Schrenk's Bittern record of Australia's rarest vagrant bittern.

As per usual, various rarities such as ALEUTIAN TERN (NSW), ORIENTAL HONEY BUZZARD (WA), HUDSONIAN GODWIT (TAS) and BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER (QLD) continue to also be seen regularly. Details on these birds and sightings can be found various previous RBA.​

Readers should note that none of the above records (unless otherwise stated) have been audited by BARC or the appropriate state rarities committees. Information is collected via Birding-Aus, Eremaea Birdline, eBird and various social media platforms. Omissions and errors are not intended, but if any fault is located, please comment below or contact us at bigdipbirding@gmail.com and we will rectify.